Kalidas and the Boon of Learning
The hero of this story is Kalidas, a young boy, who lived many years back in a remote corner of India. He was an orphan since birth. His mother breathed her last after the baby had been born. His father, who was a woodcutter, was killed by a tiger when he went into the deep forest. Little Kalidas was brought up by his only relative – a half-mad aunt. Life did not offer much mercy on him. They lived in poverty and Kalidas did not get anything for luxury. There was no friend of him as he wanted to live in his own world. The village elders did not have good opinion on this boy as he showed no interest in studies. The old priest of the village shrine used to say, “The great grandfather of this boy was a learned Pundit. It’s a pity that Kalidas doesn’t follow his forefather’s footsteps.” Kalidas hated going to school. When his aunt told him to learn the alphabet, he retorted, “What will those yellow pages do to me? Let me be alone. I would like to enjoy my time with birds and animals i...